Interesting take on the coronavirus!

DALLAS, Texas (NEXSTAR) — With the coronavirus causing concerns across the globe, many people may be wondering if their seasonal symptoms are the common cold, flu or something more.
Symptoms for the viral infection include runny nose, headache, couch and fever. And yes, those are also the common symptoms of the flu.

According to a report in Canada’s Global News, that creates difficulty for media professionals. It may be challenging to weed out mild cases of coronavirus due to its similarities with the flu, said Allison McGeer, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

“Every respiratory virus is the same — you get a runny nose, a stuffy nose, a cough, sometimes a sore throat, all because the lining of your nose and throat are damaged. The symptoms are caused by that virus or bacteria damaging the cells of your respiratory tract. It doesn’t matter what virus is causing it,” Greer told Global News.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shortness of breath, body aches and chills could be associated with more dangerous types of the coronavirus. In more extreme cases, the virus may cause pneumonia, bronchitis, kidney failure and death.

Symptoms of milder coronavirus cases can be “somewhat indistinguishable” from the flu, Eleanor Fish, an immunology professor at the University of Toronto, told Global News.

While there isn’t a vaccine to prevent coronavirus, there is a diagnostic test that quickly detects the bug. There are research teams already hard at work to create a vaccine.

At this point, the experts say travel history plays the biggest role in determining whether you have flu or cold-like symptoms versus the coronavirus. If you haven’t traveled to Wuhan, China, you’re likely in the clear.[Source: https://www.kron4.com]

Flu report for Week 47 will show an increase in flu cases!

Nationally, flu markers that the CDC uses to track activity are still below their baselines, but for two regions, the percentage of clinic visits for flu like illness have reached their baselines. One is in the southwest in a region that includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The other is in the central part of the country in a region that includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.

[Note the baseline is developed by calculating the mean percentage of patient visits for ILI (Influenza Like Illness) during non-influenza weeks for the previous three seasons and adding two standard deviations.]

In addition, the CDC said the influenza B Victoria lineage virus is currently predominant, which is unusual for this early in the flu season. Usually, influenza B activity rises late in the Northern Hemisphere’s season. However, there was little activity from the sub type in the latter part of the 2018-2019 season.

However, the agency added that all three strains are circulating, with patterns that vary by region and patient age. At public health laboratories last week, 59% of specimens that tested positive for flu were influenza B and 41% were influenza A. And of the sub typed influenza A viruses, 61.5% were 2009 H1N1 and 38.5% were H3N2.
Influenza B was most common in people younger than 24 years old and H3N2 was most common in seniors. In adults ages 24 to 64, equal proportions of all three strains have been reported.
Regional patterns show that influenza B is more common in the south and southeast, 2009 H1N1 is more frequently detected in the central states, and H3N2 is more common in the northeast.

The CDC report for Week 47 is due out ant time now.

The 2019-20 Flu season!

Taney County Missouri - Week 42 of the flu season for 2019-20 was Oct 13 to Oct 19. Still very early in the going as the flu normally peaks in late January. That said, some states including Missouri have seen a definite uptick in the number of cases.

Above is a graphic taken from the CDC report. It indicates that the number of individuals reporting showing up with symptoms of the flu at state clinics is above the 'baseline' or what is normally observed for the time of year.

The message here is very clear - please consider getting a flu shot!

Have you gotten your flu shot?

It's only mid October and already clinics are bracing for flu troubles as cases are already on the march upwards! A recent article, I read, cited - 'It is officially flu season and doctors said one strain of the flu is expected to be especially severe this year. That strain is called the H3N2 strain. This year, flu season is expected to last from October until May.

Doctors recommend getting the flu shot as early as possible. Anyone who is older than six months old can get a flu shot. It is scientifically proven to help protect you. The vaccine has an inactive virus that helps your body build up immunity to the flu.

Fatigue, coughing, a runny nose and nausea are signs of the flu. Doctors said the best way to avoid getting sick is to get a flu shot.

"I would say it's not only protective for yourself, but also protective for other people who might have chronic illnesses who might be at risk to get the flu," said Ben Moss, a physician assistant at Grants Pass Clinic.' - Excerpted from KDRV.COM.

-----------------------------------

Some background on the H2N2 virus: 'Influenza viruses that normally circulate in pigs are called “variant” viruses when they are found in people. Influenza A H3N2 variant viruses (also known as “H3N2v” viruses) with the matrix (M) gene from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus were first detected in people in July 2011. The viruses were first identified in U.S. pigs in 2010. During 2011, 12 human infections with H3N2v were detected. During 2012, there were multiple outbreaks of H3N2v resulting in 309 reported cases.'

This is a tough little swine virus, in my opinion, and I'd urge everyone to consider getting a shot this fall. Remember it takes about two weeks for a person's immune levels to ramp up, so the earlier you get a shot, the better!

Flu infections take a jump in mid December!

As a disclaimer, I only pretend to know what I'm talking about. That said, there were two variants of the flu virus circulating around the country as of the latest December 15 report from the CDC. The most prevalent was Type A H1N1/Michigan/2015 bug that has been around for some years. And while it's not a very nice bug, it can cause high levels of morbidity and is contagious as hell. That virus is seen in most of the US excluding the southeast where we find a much more interest mix known as H2N3/Singapore/2016. This little bundle of snot is much more active in terms of anti-genetic drift ability and is one I would want to watch were I very smart.

TRENDS

The rate of reported ILI or influenza like illness across the US did jump up over the average US baseline and looked to be sort of following the sort of curve we saw last season. Note the rather wacky season we had in 2009-10! By Christmas, the flu season was basically over. That was not going to be the case this year with the good news being that the vaccine looked to be very effective.

Flu news for mid December 2018!

As of December 11, 2018, the flu was beginning to make some inroads into the country as the excerpt from my diary illustrate.

With the main player being the H1N1 variant, I was guessing that this year's viral scourge may be a relatively mild one.

Random Thoughts for late October 2018!

Cool weather means it's Chili time!

Simplify, simplify simplify. Some good thoughts by Henry David Thoreau. And, like most things in culinary life, it's the simple stuff that often shines. And, while this is your typical bare bones chili, it's still damn good!

After many years of experimenting with all sorts of chili recipes (I even once bought a book on the subject), I've come up with a rather simple recipe that seems to work pretty well for me. Mind you, there is nothing fancy about the ingredients list. I've tried fancy cuts and combos of meats and while they were OK to even good, I wasn't entirely satisfied. With this simple chili, I was! So, here goes.....

Ingredients:

--------------------------------

1 lb hamburger meat

1 can of petite tomatoes

1 can of red beans

1 pkg Williams original Chili Seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

---------------------------

Directions: Brown the meat and drain off the grease. Add the other ingredients and simmer for 40 minutes. Got a small slow cooker? Dump everything in, cover, and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours. Serves 4.

Notes: It's not human nature to ever leave good enough alone. I decided to add the smallest amount of a Scorpion pepper into this recipe. You know. Just to give it a bit of a kick.

It's the flu season, don't ya know?

The month of October is the official start of the flu season for the Northern Hemisphere and was just ending down south with Pediatric flu-related deaths reaching 172 during the 2017/18 USA influenza season. Of the sub-typed influenza A viruses which accounted for most of the severe cases of illness, 964 (76%) were influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and 305 (24%) were influenza A(H3N2). So, that could be pretty much what we can expect up in America as we waddle into the late fall and early winter months!

In Missouri, incidents of the flu, during the 42^nd week, were sporadic and that was the case across most all of the continent. That said, please note that the curve, seen in the graphic, was on the high side. I would therefore encourage everyone to go and get a flu shot post haste!

Election time draws near!

On November the 6th, millions of Americans are going to help decide on what sort of country America will be shaped into as critical seats in both Houses are currently up for grabs! And while I belong to no Party, I can already tell the direction which I intend to go at the voting booth.

The Republican Party is pretty screwed up, in my opinion. That said, they seem to have the concept of a Constitutional Representative form of government pretty well understood. Strong borders, low taxes, a good military, supporting the 2nd Amendment and no mob rule are good platforms to endorse by my way of thinking.

The Democratic Party members have a much smaller platform that seems to endorse; wide open borders, high taxes, no ICE, HLS or police. They also seem to endorse hate speech via the Media and are definitely promoting a re-birthing of the failed Obama Healthcare deal. In point of fact, they appear to openly endorse the idea of America becoming a Socialistic State like Venezuela!

Uh, no thanks. Over a million brave men and women have died to make this Republic one of the best places to live in the world. And, for me to turn my back on them now, is not an option for me to consider. I'm voting the Republican ticket across the board!

Flu rate doubles in early December 2017!

December 6, 2017 – It was with no small amount of concern when I read a Fox New article proclaiming that the incidence of flu cases had more than doubled over what was the case this time last year! According to the story, 'More than 7,000 cases of influenza have been confirmed in the U.S. so far this flu season -- more than double the number this time last year, CBS News reported, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.' Sobering new, so early in the flu season.

And the bad guy or virus seems to be the H3N2 Type A which did such a number on people in the southern hemisphere during their period of winter. The continent of Australia reported the worst number of cases in 2017 ever recorded with over 70,000 taken ill! And the thinking by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is that these nasty bugs are now headed for us up in the north! At the time of this writing, it appeared that the south central portion of the United States seemed to be leading the charge, as it were.

As we are heading into the early stages of the Christmas holiday season, now would be a good time for families to remember that one of the best ways to avoid catching the flu is to wash your hands frequently! I also did a short piece on some ways to avoid the flu for anyone with an interest!

It's early December and the flu is on the move!

A number of factors may make the 2017-18 season for flu something rather special! Already, the bug is showing up in more states than is 'normal' for the time of year. And, as the graphic above shows, it looks to be making significant headway in the central southern states! So, why do I think we might be in for a rougher than normal flu ride? Let me count out a few....

1) Every year, scientists look towards the Southern Hemisphere to help hone their predictions for what might happen here. When choosing strains for the coming year’s flu vaccine, they consider what’s circulating in that part of the world. That’s the good news. The culprit in Australia was the H3N2 strain of flu, which is included in this year’s vaccine and which dates back to Hong Kong in 2014. The bad news is that the H3N2 strains are some of the hardest ones for the flu vaccine to combat. All flu viruses make frequent genetic changes that help them slip around a vaccine. Influenza H3N2 viruses are particularly adept at changing as the vaccine is being made, rendering this year's vaccine less effective against them. Some experts cite an effectiveness rating of only about 10%!

2) Most of the patients that have tested positive, as of late November, tested positive for the H3 Type A strain. The same virus that did such a number in the southern hemisphere...

3) Only about 47% of American citizens even bother to get a flu shot, citing their robust health as a reason. Sadly, the virus doesn't really care about who it infects. It treats everyone the same!

4) There is some growing evidence that more Gen X shoppers are flocking to the malls, not so much for the shopping aspect as for the socializing aspects.

5) There is some evidence that the H3 strain may be more deadly that what had been normal

Sources:
Flu season off to a tough start!
Flu shot may only be partially effective.
Mom of 2 dies day after flu diagnosis!

Flu season soars in the United States, especially in the South!

Disturbing news from Australia concerning the flu!

Australia, the continent down under, has been going through the worst flu outbreak in its history. And now as the season winds on down for them, new concerns about the effectiveness of this year's flu vaccine are coming to the fore!

As a Queensland family mourns the sudden death of an 18-year-old student who fell ill with the flu, experts have revealed this year’s vaccine “wasn’t a perfect match”. And that's not good news for the US if the same strains migrate northward over the coming months!

According to 7News out of Australia, 'Madeleine Jones was supposed to turn 19 on Saturday but while holidaying with her boyfriend in Queensland, she began to show symptoms of the illness.

Five days on, the law and business student was admitted to the intensive care unit at the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane where she fell into a coma and never woke up.
It is not known whether Ms Jones was vaccinated or not, but those responsible for creating the flu vaccine have revealed it has done little to stop the epidemic.'

The 2017-18 flu season may be a bad one!

One of the indicators for determining how severe the coming flu season will be is to just look at the opposite hemisphere to see what is happening. The flu bug is always active somewhere in the world and tends to get worst in colder weather when people tend to become in closer contact. When it's October here and we are just getting into the cooler months, places like Australia are heading for spring.

Health experts say this is Australia’s worst flu outbreak thanks to a particularly nasty strain,

Influenza A (H3N2). More than 137,500 cases of flu have been reported so far this year including a record breaking 30,000 cases in August. That’s more than double the 53,159 cases confirmed by this time last year and more than the total 83,092 cases confirmed by the end of the flu season in 2016.

So, we have that same strain, (perhaps) to look forward to later this winter season! Thankfully, the vaccine that is being made available this year has an A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like deactivated virus as part of the mix!

Of interest is the fact that the flu is already hitting states like Colorado pretty hard.  www.taneyweather.com

December marks the start of the cold season!

While the title was meant as a double entrendre, December is a time of year when colds and the flu often make a big jump in the number of individuals affected! The reasons for this are numerous, but most hinge on the fact that the Holidays bring a lot more people together into closer proximity than at any other times of the year!

As the fever of the season sets upon us all, there is a felt and urgent need to get out and shop for Christmas gifts, to hit those office parties and to get together with loved ones. With more people moving about and bumping into each other, there are many more chances for those bad germs to spread! Add in the stress that the Holidays naturally bring, add in a touch of really cold weather and voila! You have the perfect recipe for getting those sniffles, aches and red noses that only colds can bring!

How can you avoid it all? Well, I suppose you could lock yourself away until March, but in general that's not a viable option. For most of us, we'll have to just shoulder through the gauntlet with a hope, aspirin and a prayer! But wait! There are some common sense things you can do to lessen your chances of falling ill, and here they are;

1. Wash those hands! If everyone would only do that numerous times a day, there would be a lot less illness going around!
2. Went you're out and about, stay alert! If you're in a crowed venue and you see someone that looks ill, then vacate the premises pronto, even if it's your dear old uncle Ned!
3. Avoid crowded shopping malls by going on-line or by at least choosing times when those germ pits are less crowded.
4. Say no to office parties! I know that's hard to do, but do you really wants to mix with highly stressed out co-workers who've just returned from a local malls, loaded with rhino virus?
5. Buy a can of Lysol and actually use it on door knobs, counter surfaces and such. Flu viruses can last for a long long time on certain 'fomites' – i.e. any object that can support a virus.
6. Plan ahead and do your grocery shopping, bank visits and such during off times. Early morning is really good as people who are already sick really hate to get out of bed early in the day.
7. Get a flu shot! Duh! (No, you can't get sick from the shot and yes, people actually do die from not taking this simple precaution).
8. Exercise, limit you intake of alcohol and eat well – Gee, I'm beginning to sound like someones mother!
9. Stay well hydrated – Drink 8 cups of water a day, at the very least!
10. Finally, if you do still manage to get yourself sick, do everyone else a favor and stay home!
    
     Update: Week 47 (basically through the end of November 2015)
    

    

    Let's try and keep that red line on the floor through vigilance, frequent hand washing and making sure everyone you know gets their shot!
    
    

Fluageddon: The coming killer epidemic!

In the fall of the year 1918, a bad and terrible flu swept over the planet killing more people in America than were killed in the last century of warfare combined. As many as 50 million worldwide died horrible deaths as they either slowly drowned from fluids that filled their lungs or from other complications. Yes, influenza can and has enacted terrible suffering worldwide; a scenario continues to this day.

In America alone, the CDC has estimated that over a period of 30 years, between 1976 and 2006, flu-associated deaths in the United States range from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people. But, that’s not the scary part!

Not counting the pandemic outbreak of the Swine flu, it’s now been over forty years since the world has seen a novel or new version of the flu. Fortunately, the influenza type Swine Flu (type A H1N1) was not very serious, but on a more ominous note it was highly contagious. In just three weeks, after first appearing in Mexico, the Swine Flu was seen in 20 countries on five continents! After just the first year, it has been estimated that 1 in 7 people have been exposed. And, even though this flu was relatively mild, it still managed to kill a lot of people. One study estimated that ‘globally there were 201,200 respiratory deaths (range 105,700—395,600) with an additional 83,300 cardiovascular deaths (46,000—179,900) associated with 2009 pandemic influenza A H1N1. 80% of the respiratory and cardiovascular deaths were in people younger than 65 years and 51% occurred in Southeast Asia and Africa.’ So, its apparent that even a mild version of the flu can result in very high mortality and morbidity rates, if it also happens to be highly infectious!

Now consider the so-call Bird Flu or as it’s most scientifically known, Type A H5N1. This flu is a true killer, killing as many as 50% of the people who contract it! That’s why it’s also referred to a HPAI which stands for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.

Thankfully, HPAI does not spread very easily to humans…at least not yet. Recent studies have indicated that the virus is contained mostly to birds at this time. However, they’ve also indicated that this particular version may be just a few mutations (or genetic tweaks) away from becoming an airborne Fluageddon! (A situation that could develop if it manages to gain the contagiousness of the Swine flu while retaining its high level of pathogenicity)!

Such a flu, should it be let loose on the world, would make the movie Contagion seem like a walk in the park! Imagine catching a ‘cold’ where you had only a fifty-fifty chance of survival! Imagine a ‘cold’ so infectious that tens of millions came down with it all in a short time. Emergency services, hospitals and clinic would be almost instantly overwhelmed. Key personnel who maintain essential services like gasoline, electricity and water might easily abandon their posts setting up instances of widespread outages that would only fuel a growing panic. Such a dastardly flu could easily topple governments and start wars all across the globe….

But, what are the chances of this ever happening, you might well ask? I don’t think anyone does, but I’ll tell you this! The World Health Organization along with the CDC are growing increasingly uneasy as time goes on. One article, How Worried Should We Be’ published in Nature describes some of the reasons behind their concern.

Disclaimer: All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner and author of this post makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

The flu is making early inroads this year!

After experiencing a number of years where the onset of influenza was either late or very moderate, this year could be a change for the worst!

As of the latest report by the CDC dated December 1, 2012, the flu is really beginning to ramp up in some states, most notably the southeast. As the graphic of states would indicate, the incidents of ILI or Influenza Like Illness is becoming widespread in states like Texas and Louisiana while Mississippi and Alabama are getting hammered! My home state of Missouri is doing OK, so far with only moderate to low occurrences being reported. Interestingly, neither Taney or Stone Counties have seen a single case so far, but that will more than likely not remain the norm for long.

This season, the main problem bug seems to be H3N2 aka Type A/Brisbane/10/2007 which is the same bug that was prevalent last year. It's thought, therefore, the vaccine currently being distributed should be very effective if applied early in the season (which means right now).

The Cold and Flu season is upon us!

As the year 2011 comes to a grinding close, I have begun to focus on the year ahead and what that means. What is means is the start of the cold and flu season for a lot of us! That thought occurred to me as I sat at my favorite watering hole and looked down the line of occupied bar stools. It was with a sense of growing unease that I realized most of the people there were sick! The one other guy I had thought was healthy, besides myself, had just started sneezing repeatedly. I watched him a moment and then quietly got up and moved down a few stools.

I'm pretty sure that no one there had the flu, mainly because I asked them. Each of them had the sniffles and sounded like they were congested, but all of them said no when asked about pulmonary distress. Still, colds all by themselves, can be nasty and miserable. They can also be very contagious and I wondered how many of the 'regulars' had caught this bug from each other? With that thought in mind, I quickly finished my beer and left.

As I am writing this post, the flu season has yet to have done very much damage. The Center for Disease Control or CDC shows little or no influenza activity in any of the fifty contiguous states as of December the 17th. Maybe this will be a year with little or no flu-related deaths. Time will tell. Right now, only the state of Louisiana has reported slightly elevated levels as the map above shows. Let's all hope it stays green this winter!

Flu season 2010 starts off in strange fashion!

With the official start of the Flu season now just weeks away (October 15) here in the United States., reports by the CDC hint that something a little strange may be afoot. It seems the H1N1 virus that caused over fifteen thousand deaths in the States last season is nowhere to be found.  Only sporadic cases continue to crop up here and there. Typically, scientists would expect to see another wave of the so-called Swine Flu this winter. Instead, early reports are hinting at the re-emergence of an older strain known as H3N2. A strain of flu that has been around for some time and which was all but edged out of the way by the H1N1 variant. This could be relatively good news as this older strain is known to affect older people whereas the Swine Flu seemed to target the young, including teenagers.

While it is way to early to say that things may be ‘returning to normal’, this is still better news than what everyone had going into the 2009 season. The big question concerning many are exactly where has the H1N1 bad guy gone and will he stay there?

Pigs, the Flu, MRSA and you!

As fall now swiftly approaches, I’m wondering about the flu and how severe it might become over the coming winter months. Last year, thankfully, the pandemic strain known as H1N1 fizzled out before it caused too many deaths. It still pays to remember that even on a ‘good’ year the common forms of the flu can and does kill thousands. Anyone, but especially the very young and the old can become very sick. This also includes a person at any age that is suffering from an impaired immune system.

My focus for this blog is on the mega-sized hog farms that are spread out all over the US. Smithfield Foods, the largest and most profitable of these, killed 27 million hogs last year. Now that's a lot of hogs and it’s not so much the meat I’m concerned about as the shear amount of feces produced. For instance, the 500,000 pigs at a single Smithfield subsidiary in Utah generate more fecal matter each year than the 1.5 million inhabitants of Manhattan. The best estimates put Smithfield's total waste discharge at 26 million tons a year. That would fill four Yankee Stadiums. Even when divided among the many small pig production units that surround the company's slaughterhouses that is not an easily containable amount. Many of its contractors allow great volumes of waste to run out of their slope-floored barns and sit blithely in the open, untreated, where the elements break it down and gravity pulls it into groundwater and river systems. Smithfield's holding ponds -- the company calls them lagoons -- cover as much as 120,000 square feet. The area around a single slaughterhouse can contain hundreds of lagoons, some of which run thirty feet deep. The liquid in them is not brown. The interactions between the bacteria and blood and afterbirths and stillborn piglets and urine and excrement and chemicals and drugs turn the lagoons pink.

Even light rains can cause lagoons to overflow; major floods have transformed entire counties into pig-shit bayous. To alleviate swelling lagoons, workers sometimes pump the shit out of them and spray the waste on surrounding fields, which results in what the industry daintily refers to as "over-application." This can turn hundreds of acres -- thousands of football fields -- into shallow mud puddles of pig shit. Tree branches drip with pig shit.

Some pig-farm lagoons have polyethylene liners, which can be punctured by rocks in the ground, allowing shit to seep beneath the liners and spread and ferment. Gases from the fermentation can inflate the liner like a hot-air balloon and rise in an expanding, accelerating bubble, forcing thousands of tons of feces out of the lagoon in all directions.

The lagoons themselves are so viscous and venomous that if someone falls in it is foolish to try to save him. A few years ago, a truck driver in Oklahoma was transferring pig shit to a lagoon when he and his truck went over the side. It took almost three weeks to recover his body. In 1992, when a worker making repairs to a lagoon in Minnesota began to choke to death on the fumes, another worker dived in after him, and they died the same death. In another instance, a worker who was repairing a lagoon in Michigan was overcome by the fumes and fell in. His fifteen-year-old nephew dived in to save him but was overcome, the worker's cousin went in to save the teenager but was overcome, the worker's older brother dived in to save them but was overcome, and then the worker's father dived in. They all died in pig shit.

Add to this, the routine manner in which millions of tons of antibiotics are fed to the pigs to stimulate growth, much of which is later excreted into the lagoons, and you have yourself one very interesting scenario. While most of the bacteria are killed by the antibiotics, a few survive. These tend to be resistant to antibiotics very similar to those given to people. Among the more dangerous bacteria, we find Staphylococcus aureus subtype 398 (MRSA), which has recently found itself a new niche to live in the swine population worldwide. This bacteria is methicillin resistant and is dangerous if it colonizes a human being, especially a human with a compromised immune system.

So, this microbe along with a host of other microbes sit in these vats of shit doing what they do best. That is evolving and exchanging genetic information via different pathways. Oh, did I forget to mention that the H1N1 flu virus is present there also? (Honestly, you just cannot make this stuff up). So, what you end up with in all those fields and in all those vats of pig shit are very large and leaky Petri dishes. An informal science experiment that goes on year in and year out. It should be interesting to see how it all works out.